Army of One

I've been spending a lot of time at home lately instead of sitting in the office. Not that I've been goofing of at home, but I've been editing and shooting. This new project is taking up a whole lot more of my time then doing the regular live show I do. One thing about live show is that you don't have to worry about editing so much, it's all over in an hour.

For the recorded program I'm doing, it's basically an army of one... me. I have to shoot, edit and do the interviews. The hardest part of course is editing. The subject matter is really boring. Not something easily translated into a TV program. I always don't have enough visuals. I know, sounds like bad production planning. I always have a pre-planned storyboard written out in my head but when I do shoot the thing and later come back to edit, it doesn't always turn out right. In the end, I end up using a lot of post-production effects.

I can't edit in the office because the booked editing time is too little. I rather sit at home in my underwear and edit. For episode 3, I shot the whole thing on my own. Plus there was an opening montage which I needed a hand. I shot my own hand in my bedroom. It was really hard trying to shoot my own hand. I had to hold the video camera at a wierd angle with my right hand, while my left hand was lying on the bed. I set up the lights for a studio shoot on my bed. I had a slight cramp in my right hand from holding the camera the whole morning that way.

Good thing I had money to hire a scriptwriter... although I know I should be writing my own scripts. For one, writing my own scripts let me have more control over the story flow. I'm a control freak when it comes to production. I want to control everything, so that way I can have more control over the overall picture. Right down to how many frames to use for the dissolves in transitions! In a way, I'm a perfectionist. I worry that I'm not doing enough to make the visuals better.

The only bad part about having total control is that I'm totally stressed out. I procrastinate a lot and there's so much to be done as the dateline is looming at the end of the month. I used to have so much personal time, now I hardly have any.

Now I tell myself to stop working the evening and only work in daylight, stick to the normal working hours otherwise I'll be too strung out. I still go to the office everyday to touch base with my colleagues. I'm still supposed to run the live show once a week, but I think this month is the last time I'm doing it, after that I'm focusing totally on this new project. I can't handle doing two at the same time, it's suicide!